


Meetings in the Woods

by thehiddlethings



Series: Tales of Loki [1]
Category: Mythology - Fandom, Norse Mythology, Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Norse Myths & Legends, Pool, forest, night time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-04
Updated: 2013-03-04
Packaged: 2017-12-04 08:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/708472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehiddlethings/pseuds/thehiddlethings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first meeting of Loki and Angrboda in the Ironwood.<br/>He sees her crying and wants to know what secrets she hides.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Loki had been walking for three days now and his legs were growing weary. He slumped down onto a nearby rock and surveyed his surroundings. The ‘Great’ Ironwood; not nearly as formidable as he’d been led to believe, although there was definitely something here. It hung in the air like a cloying mist and caught at his senses. A heavy magic seeped through the moss and lichen, dripping off every frond like invisible dew. He felt every bit the outsider here. Like the forest itself would suck the very air from his lungs given half the chance. He wiped his face and gave a little laugh. Well, let it try. He wasn’t going anywhere until he was satisfied he’d learned all it had to offer. He’d been in scarier places before.

It was getting dark so he made himself a simple cot with his magic and laid down for the night. On his back he watched the stars passing over above him as nótt herded them like sheep across the night sky. They had to fight to be seen in the gloom from the treetops, the forest grabbing greedily at all available light, trying to keep itself in darkness.

He must have fallen asleep at some point because he was suddenly awoken by the sounds of movement nearby. He lay for a moment, thinking he’d merely imagined it in a dream state. His breathing stilled as his ears strained to hear it again, filtering out the usual sounds of the wilderness. Just as he was about to give it up as his imagination, he heard it again. He turned his head toward the sound and sat up slowly. There was definitely someone moving through the forest nearby and in the distance he could make out the vague flickering of a flame. His curiosity aroused, he slipped off his cot and followed the light. He followed for a good few minutes, hanging back so as not to be spotted as they approached a still pool in a small clearing.

The ‘mystery’ turned out to be a woman with long, dark, wild hair and even darker eyes and he watched her in silence as she spiked her torch into the ground near the pool and let her dress fall to the ground. Her hips and waist where covered in an intricate pattern of vines and leaves, interspersed with runes and symbols. They were beautiful. She stepped down into the water slowly until only her shoulders remained and she stayed there, running her fingers under the surface of the water with her back to him, humming a gentle tune he didn’t recognise.

He wondered where she’d come from; he hadn’t come across any people in his travels here so far. Maybe she too was a traveller and he was still contemplating this possibility when her shoulders hunched suddenly and she began crying into her hands. Not delicate tears of annoyance but great wracking sobs of anguish. He started with the suddenness of it and stepped forwards, forgetting he was supposed to remain a secret observer.

She turned quickly and, seeing him moving against the trees, she scowled and dived up in a surge of water and hurled herself towards him. “HOW DARE YOU?” he growled. He gave a surprised laugh as she grabbed him and hauled him into the light, slamming him against the nearest tree.

“This is private,” she hissed at him, “I should kill you right here for trespassing. What are you doing this far in Járnvidr?”

Something sharp pierced his neck and reaching up, he felt the edge of a sharp stone in her fingers. When had she grabbed that? She pressed harder in response and he released his grip on it and put his hands behind his back in a gesture of goodwill.

“I’m merely a traveller.” He said simply, staring into her blazing eyes. “Is this how you treat all your guests here in the Ironwood?”

“You aren’t a guest of mine, stranger.”

The corners of his mouth twitched. He could turn into something and escape anytime he wanted but something about her intrigued him immensely. She had fire in her eyes.

“Then I should tell you my name and we’ll be strangers no more,” he said with a sweet smile. “Loki Odinson. A pleasure to meet you Lady. I’d take your hand but I rather fear for my neck at the moment.”

She stared at him in silence but he noticed her brow twitch ever so slightly. Maybe she’d heard of him. Most people had, even this far out in the wilderness. Being the son of the Allfather had that effect. “It’s customary to tell the person your name when they tell you theirs,” he pointed out.

“You don’t need my name” she snapped, “We aren’t going to be friends.”

Loki smiled again. “It seems a little backward to have a naked woman pressed against you and not even know her name, don’t you think?”

She looked down at herself briefly and he felt her grip on him relax slightly. She hadn’t bothered to dress before she’d grabbed him. “You say that like it should worry me.” Her eyes came back to his face. “This way I won’t ruin my dress when I slice your throat open.”

“Such harsh words for one who was breaking her heart open only moments before.”

Her face softened immediately and he took the opportunity and continued. “Tell me. What troubles you so much that you would come to a place of solitude to show your grief instead of sharing your burden with your loved ones?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything.” She whispered, fighting back her tears and steeling her expression. “It’s nothing to do with you why I was crying.”

“Perhaps I can help-”

“No” she interrupted, pushing back off him and dropping her weapon. She turned and snatched up her dress from the forest floor. Loki remained completely still, leaning against the tree as she pulled it back on.

“I think you underestimate my ability to solve problems ‘Lady of the wood’.” He said in a calming voice.

Angrboda turned to him and snatched up her torch. “I don’t underestimate you at all ‘silver tongue’, not for one single second. I know who you are and I don’t expect to see you here again. This is my pool, not yours,” and with that she turned and disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

He watched the flame get dimmer in the distance before picking up the discarded stone she’d used as a weapon. “Of course not, my lady,” he lied, turning it over in his hands with a smile.


	2. Chapter 2

The next night Angrboda arrived at the pool as usual and sunk into the water to cry. Loki sat in the darkness and watched her as before only this time he was disguised as a bird so she wouldn’t see him. He waited to see if she would stop crying on her own but she continued for the entire visit and left when she’d tired herself out. Watching her cry did something to him. It twisted his insides in a way that he’d not felt before. She was a puzzle and he needed to solve her. 

This continued for seven nights until he could stand it no longer. When she arrived on the eighth he waited until she was in the pool and then he approached from the darkness. “I’m beginning to think this pool is made entirely of your doing,” he said kneeling at the water’s edge.

She wiped her eyes and turned to face him in annoyance as he put his hand in the water and brought a mouthful to his lips. “It’s not as salty as I imagined it to be. Perhaps you cry freshwater tears.”

“What are you doing here? I told you to go away and not come back,” she snapped.

“You didn’t, actually. You told me you didn’t expect to see me here again and so here I am, where you least expected me to be.”

She rolled her eyes in disgust but he ignored her and sat down on a rock to take off his boots. “What are you doing now?” she asked.

“Perhaps your eyesight has been ruined from all the crying you insist on doing. I’m taking off my boots.” He gestured to his bare feet and swung them around into the cool water.

“You can’t do that, this is my pool.”

“Maybe your name is written on it then,” he said, making a grand show of looking under the rocks nearby. “Perhaps I can learn it that way.”

“You’re being impossible,” she muttered and turned away from him. She tried to pretend he wasn’t there but she was finding it difficult to ignore him completely. She didn’t want to get out of the pool immediately and give him the satisfaction of thinking he’d scared her off so she remained fixed to the spot, staring into the darkness.

Loki broke the silence that was building. “Maybe I can guess your name instead,” he mused. “I’m good at games.” He leant back and rested his elbows behind him casually. “Since you ‘own’ this pool, perhaps your name is ‘lund’ (nature).”

She glared over her shoulder. “Don’t be a fool.”

“Not lund then…. Maybe you go by the name of ‘όgleði’ (sadness) instead?” She stood still, pretending that she hadn’t heard him.

“Now, I know you’re not the Goddess Hlin (grief), I’ve met her and you’re nothing like her,” he laughed. “She’s exceptionally boring and you’re far from that.”

“I’m not any kind of Goddess, Odinson,” she said with a sigh and turned to face him, “and I’m leaving now.”

Her dress was right beside him so she made sure she splashed him as she pulled herself of out the water and scooped it up.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said cheerfully as she stormed off back towards her home.

“Not if I can help it.” She shouted over her shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3

Another thirteen days passed with the same routine. He asked her for her name, she refused to give it and he attempted to guess until she left. At first she was annoyed and almost stopped herself from going again but she refused to let him win. It was her pool and she would go when she liked. During the days though, she wondered if he’d still be there when she returned and she found herself almost looking forward to it.

When she arrived that night she found him swimming in the pool, his clothes piled on a rock at the water’s edge.

“You’re always here,” she pointed out with the tiniest of smiles.

“Yes, I am,” he agreed, “and so are you. Even though you know I’ll be here, you still visit night after night. Why is that I wonder?”

“I come because I want to and I won’t let anyone take that from me,” she said, undressing and slipping into the water beside him.

“I wasn’t aware of taking anything from you. Besides, I can’t leave until I know your name.” He raised his eyebrows, “…the rules of the game.”

“Your foolish game; not mine.” Her fingers ran under the water slowly, watching the ripples flow on the surface as she thought. “Then I release you from your self-made prison Loki Odinson. You’re nothing if not persistent and I’d hate for you to use up all of your remaining days sitting here with me… it’s Angrboda.” She looked at him straight in the eyes. “My name is Angrboda.”

“Then it’s a pleasure to finally meet you Angrboda,” he smiled as he shifted towards her and took her hand from under the water. She almost pulled back but instead she let him kiss it. If he’d tried this on the first day, he’d have gotten a punch but maybe he’d earned it after all this time.

“So Angrboda of the Ironwood, why do you cry?”

Her smile faltered for a moment but she recovered quickly. “And why would you of all people care to know a thing like that? You’ve won your game, lie-smith. It’s time to leave the table.”

“Because you’ve given me something precious and I owe you for it.”

“My name isn’t precious, Loki. It’s just my name.”

“So why was it so hard for you to give then?”

She thought about this. Why hadn’t she just told him her name in the first place? “I’m stubborn,” she replied.

He laughed, “I know the feeling. Once I set my mind to something, little else will distract me.”

“Does that mean you won’t leave until I tell you why I was crying?”

“In all probability yes,” he smiled. “I have time on my side. I can wait for an eternity if I have to.”

She sighed and wondered whether it was wise to trust him with the truth. “I can help you, I’m sure of it,” he interrupted. “Just tell me what it is and I’ll prove it to you.”

“No man can help me, Loki” she said heavily. “I’ve been forsaken.”

“Maybe…” he said, nodding to her surprise. “Forsaken by all the Gods perhaps…. All but one,” he grinned widely like a young boy. “You only need one God on your side to make a difference and you have a cunning one on yours.”

“Are you going to make a child for me then?” She asked bluntly. “That’s what I cry for. I can’t conceive. I’ve tried for years and the Gods seem to forbid it. No men in the village will have me now. They think I’m cursed to be barren forever. No one wants a wife that can’t bring children into the world.”

Loki considered her revelation. “What is it you want more? To be a wife or to be a mother?”

“A Mother,” she answered instantly. “I don’t need a man to carry me into my dotage. I can do that myself but I can’t conceive without one.”

“You can conceive with me,” he countered. “We can use magic.”

“I have magic of my own, it doesn’t work on this. I’ve tried.”

“I’m not talking about incantations and spells,” he said, running his fingers across her naked hips were the runes were etched. “There’s a place I can take you. It’s down in the roots of Yggdrasil and it’s a source of Seiðr. Even Gods who are against you will bow down to the will of Seiðr.”

She bit her lip as she considered his offer. This was her best chance and she didn’t dare throw it away. “Why would you do this for me?” she asked suspiciously.

“Why not? I find you pleasing and I can give you something you want. I suppose it’s selfish but I’ve done very little good in my life so far. It’s in my nature to do the exact opposite. You’d be something of a redemption.”

“I don’t want to be your wife,” she warned. “Nor do I want to be beholden to you for the rest of my life. Come and go as you please but you must promise to never take the child from me, even if you change your mind. If you do this for me I’ll teach you the secrets of the Ironwood. A deal or nothing at all. That’s my bargain, Odnison.”

Loki licked his lips as he considered her proposal. “You have your bargain.”

She dived under the water and found the sharpest stone she could, holding it up in front of him. “An oath in blood.” She sliced her palm open before doing the same to his, pressing their palms together so the blood mingled and dropped into the water as one. “Thank you,” she whispered, feeling a hopeful lift in her spirits. Loki felt it too but for him, it was in the air itself. The sense of heavy foreboding was lifting, making it lighter to breathe. It was like the forest had finally accepted his presence.

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her in close and kissed her. “Don’t thank me until you’re holding your child in your arms. We have a long way to travel yet.”


End file.
